Track-sander



(No Mel.)

H. A. NOLTY, Jr.

- TRAGK SANDER.

Patented May 4, 1897.

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l/l/l/l/I/III/I/l/l/l/I/II/l/llf/ l/l/l/IIIII'IIIIIIIIIIIII [[17]- Puma-uma.. wnmmcrou o c UNITED States Patenti* iOlrrrcn.

HENRY A. NOLTY, JR., OF LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANI.

TRACK=SANDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 581,989, dated May 4, 1897.v

A Application filed January 29, 1897. Serial No. 621,184. (No model.)

To otZZ whom it may 0072007711;

Be it known that I, l-IENRY A. NoLrY, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residin g at Lancaster, in the county' of Lancaster, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Track-Sanders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in that class of track-sanders employed on electric cars or on other cars propelled through the friction between their own wheels and the rails; and the objects of the improvements are, first, to feed sand or gravel to the rails, as it is needed, and, second, to provide means for directing the sand or gravel to the rails in rounding curves.

It is difficult to feed moist sand to the rails, as the same is apt to form Vcakes and lumps which clog up the sanding mechanism, and even When the sand does floW properly it is liableto fall outside and inside of the rails in ronnding cnrves in conseqnence of the tangential position of the car-body with reference to the rails of the track. My improvements overcome these objections.

My invention consists in the construction and combination of the various parts, as hereinafter fully described, and then pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which form apart of this specilication, Figure lis a transverse sectionof a car having a track-sander embodying my invention attached thereto, the front of one of the sand-chests being cut away. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, the sandchest being shown in section. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a portion of a truck, showing the position of the sand-guide on a curve.

Fig. lis a perspective view of the agitator and valve, and Fig 5 a vertical section on broken line 5 5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 shows a detail.

Similar letters indicate like parts throughout the several views. i

Referring to the details of the drawings, A indicates the rails of a track; A', the wheels of a car; A2, the truck-frame, and A3 the platform of a car. To the bottom of the platform Aa and over each rail is Secured a sand-chest, the bottom of the'outer section B of each chest, which is over the rail, being semicircular in cross-section, and from said section B the inner section B' of the sandchest tapers upward toward the bottom of the car-platform, whereby the sand in section B' is automatically fed into section B as the sand is discharged therefrom, as will be described. Beneath said platform there is a transverselydisposed rock-shaft D, having its bearings in the walls of both of the sand-chests, and midway of the rook-shaft is an npright lever D', each arm of which is Connected by a rod (Z With an npright hand-lever D2, fulcruined in ahanger d', attached to the bottom of the car.

In section B of each sand-chest an agitator E is rigidly seeured to rock-shaft D. Each agitator com prises two parallel hangers e.,having eyes e' thereon, through Which the rockshaft passes; two horizontal bars ez, rigidly attached to said eyes and extending outward therefrom and having` their outer ends .Connected by cross-bars G3; two semicircular bars 64, each secured to the lower end of one of the uprights e and to the onter ends of one of the bars ez, and intermediate cross-bars e es, attached to semicircular bars e4 and which 'serve as push-bars to carry sand to the port in the bottom of section B.

To cross-bare cG is secured a slide-valve E', curved to conform With the contonr of the bottom of section B of the sand-chest and Which plays over a port b in said bottom. The slide-valve moves over a bearing-plate 132 on the bottom of section B, and the edges thereof engage guideways b' on the edges of said bearing-plate, which has an opening 173 therein that registers with the port b in said section B. These guideways may be entirely omitted, and, if preferable, the valve may bear directly on the bottom of section B.

d2 indicates breakers on the rock-shaft D ``above the agitators, some of which lap the guide is supported in front of the wheels on one side of the truck and beneath the port of one of the sand-chests by beams F' and a brace F2, rigidly secured to one of the transverse members of truck-frame A2, so that the sand-guide is always held over the rail traveled by the wheels before which it is carried. These sand-guides prevent the sand from being` fed to one side of the rails when the car is ronnding a curve, for, as the truck closely follows the movement of the wheels over the rails, the sand-guides are kept directly above the same instead of deviating to the outside or inside thereof, as do the outlet-openings of the sand-chests. To overcome the effect of any slight divergence of the dischargeopenings of the sand-guides from the center of the rails, said openin gs are somewhat flared transversely of the rails, as shown at f, Fi g. 1. The months, however, of the sand-guides are of suflicient width to receive the discharge from the sand-chests, no matter What the degree of curvature of the track may be. To prevent the dispersion of the sand as it is fed from the ports of the sand-chests to the months of the sand-guides,l short pipes of greater diameter than said discharge-openings may be attached to the sand-chests, as shown in dotted lines at 192, Fig. 1.

In operating, the agitators and the valves attached thereto are actuated by the cardriver through hand-lever D2 and its connections. The various breakers serve to disintegrate any masses of sand that may be formed in the sand-chests, and the cross-bars 63, 65, and e of the agitator serve to push the sand toward and into ports b of the sand-chests. The sand passes from said ports into the flaring months of the sand-guides, whence it is depositechthrough the red u ced discharge ends of said sand-guides, onto the rails.

I do not restrict myself to the details of construction herein shown and described, as it is obvious that many changes may be made therein without departin g from the spirit and scope of my invention, neither do I restrict myself to the use of a sand-guide With a sanding device of the character described, nor to the construction of the sandguide herein shown and described, as said sand-guide may automatically have a movement imparted thereto to cause it to follow the curvature of the rail.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to sec'ure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a track-sander, of a sand-chest having a bottom with a concave inner surface, and a slide-valve located in the sand-chest and having a conveX bottom surface corresponding with the concave surface of the bottom of the sand-chest, the slidevalve being adapted to play over a port in the bottom of said sand-chest, for the purpose specified.

2,. The combination, in a track-sander, of a sand-chest having a bottom with a concave inner surface, a curved agitator in the sandto the bottom of the sand-ohest, and a slidevalve located in the sand-chest and having a conveX bottom surface corresponding With the concave surface of the bottom of the sandchest, the slide-valve being adapted to play over a port in the bottom of said sand-chest, for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, in a track-sander, of a sand-chest having a curved bottom, with a port therein, a rock-shaft passing through the sand-chest, an agitator consisting of a frame, rigidly attached to the rock-shaft, curved side bars, and push-bars secured transversely to the side bars and adjacent to the bottom of the sand-chest, and a valve attached to the agitator and adapted to slide over said port, for the purpose specified.

4. A sand-chest having a curved bottom, with a port therein, a rock shaft passing through the sand-chest, an agit-ator consistin g of a frame, rigidly attached to the rook-shaft, curved side bars, and push bars secured transversely to the side bars and adjacent to the bottom of the sand-chest, in combination with a valve, attached to the agitator and adapted to slide over said port, and breakers or stirrcrs secured to members of the agitator, for the purpose specified.

5. The combination, in a track-sander, of a sand-chest having a curved bottom, with a port therein, a rock-shaf t passin g through the sand-chcst, an agitator consisting of hangers and transverse bars, both rigidly secured to the rock-shaft, curved bars attached to the hangers and to the transverse bars, and pushbars secured to the curved bars and adjacent to the bottom of the sand-chest, and a slidevalve connected with said curved bars, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

A sand-chest having a curved bottom, with a port therein, a rock-shaft passing through the sand-chest, an agitator consisting of hangers and transverse bars, both rigidly secured to the rock-shaft, curved bars attached to the hangers and to the transverse bars, and push-bars secured to the curved bars and adjacent to the bottom of the sandchest, in combination with a bearing-plate on the bottom of the sand-chest and having an opening therein registering with the port in said sand-chest, and a slide-valve connected With said curved bars and engaging guideways on the bearing-plate, for the purpose specified.

7. A sand-chest having a section with a curved bottom and a section having the bottom sloping upward from the curved bottom, in combination with a rock-shaft, extending through both said sections, an agitator on the rock-shaft and having the lower portion thereof curved to fit the bottom of said first section of the sand-chcst, a slide-valve on the agitator and adapted to play over a port in the curved bottom of the first section, breakers or stirrers on the portion of the rock-shaft in said section having the sloping bottom, and breakers `chest, push-bars on the agitator and adjacent IOO IIO

or stirrers attached to the walls of said section, for the purpose specified.

8. A sand-chest having a section With a curved bottom and a section having the bottom sloping upward from the curved bottom, in combination With a rock-shaft, extending through both said sections, an agitator located in the section having the curved bottom and consistin g of hangers and transverse bars, rigidly secured to the rock-shaft, curved bars attached to the hangers and to the transverse bars, and push-bars secured to the curved bar s and adjacent toA said curved bottom, a slide-valve connected With said curved bars and adapted to play over a port in the curved bottom, breakers or stirrers on the portion of the rock-shaft in said section having the sloping bottom, breakers or stirrers attached to the Walls of said section, and breakers or stirrers on members of the agitator, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

9. The combination, in a track-sander, of a sand-chest, and a sand-guide disconnected from the sand-chest and located between the discharge-opening therein and the rail, for the purpose specified.

10. The combination, in a track-sander, of a sand-chest, a sand-guide disconnected from the sand-chest and located between the discharge-opening therein and the rail, and a supporting connection between the Wheelof a sand-guide rigidly secured to the wheeltruck and located between the dischargeopening of said sander and a rail of the track,`

the mouth of said sand-guide flaring transversely of the rail, for the purpose specified.

12. The combination7 with a track-sander, of a sand-guide rigidly secured to the wheeltruck and located between the dischargeopening of said sander and a rail of the track, the mouth of said sand-guide and the discharge-opening thereof both flaring transversely of the rail, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

13. The combination, with a track-sander, of a sand-chest having a curved bottom, with a port therein, an agitator in said chest and having a slide-valve thereon adapted to play Over the port, push-bars on the agitator and adjacent to the curved bottom, and a sandguide secured to the Wheel-truck and located between said port and a rail of the track, the mouth of said sand-guide flaring transversely of the rail, for the purpose specified.

HENRY A. NOLTY, J R.

\Vitnessesz O. G. BAssLER, WM. R. GERHART. 

